Author Archives: admin

Egypt’s Sisi visits Kazakhstan

FEB. 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al- Sisi flew to Astana for talks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, a rare visit to Kazakhstan from a Middle Eastern leader. A few days before Mr Sisi’s visit, Kazakhstan restored air links to Egypt. It cut them at the end of last year after an alleged bomb planted by Islamic radicals blew up a Russian Plane. There was no news of any agreements signed at the meeting.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 270, published on March 4 2016)

Georgia gets trade deal

FEB. 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia and the four members of the European Free Trade Association — Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland — finished negotiations on a free trade agreement. The deal, to be signed in Bern in June, will give Georgian businesses access to a combined market of 14m people. It is also another step towards deeper integration with the West for Georgia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 270, published on March 4 2016)

Georgian ex-minister survives attack

FEB. 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Alexi Petriashvili, a former Georgian minister for European integration in 2012-14 under the Georgian Dream coalition, was shot three times in the legs and stomach. Mr Petriashvili, leader of the Free Democrats, survived the attack and a hospital in Tbilisi said that he should make a full recovery. He was shot while visiting a graveyard.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 270, published on March 4 2016)

BP and Topaz make Azerbaijan deal

MARCH 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Dubai-based oil service company Topaz Marine signed a deal with BP to supply 14 offshore vessels for its operations in Azerbaijan. The companies did not disclose the value of the deal, but Reuters calculated it to be worth around $541m.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 270, published on March 4 2016)

Gazprom rises prices for Kyrgyzstan

MARCH 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Olga Lavrova, Gazprom Kyrgyzstan’s deputy director, said that the company had had to raise the price it charges to its Kyrgyz customers to match the devaluation of the Kyrgyz som. Gazprom, which bought Kyrgyzgaz in 2013 for a symbolic $1 plus debt, also said that it was still effectively subsidising the price of gas in Kyrgyzstan. Gas price rises are a sensitive issue in Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 270, published on March 4 2016)

Turkcell submits bid for TeliaSonera’s Eurasian holdings

ALMATY, FEB. 26 2016, (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkcell, Turkey’s largest telecoms operator, said it had submitted a formal offer for TeliaSonera’s share in Fintur, a holding company that owns several stakes in telecoms operators across Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

TeliaSonera owns a 58.55% stake in Fintur. Turkcell owns the rest of the Netherlands-based company. Fintur, in turn, owns stakes in Azerbaijan Azercell, Georgia’s Geocell, Kazakhstan’s Kcell, Uzbekistan Ucell and Tajikistan’s Tcell.

If the sale goes through, the deal will reduce TeliaSonera’s exposure to the region. TeliaSonera will not, though, be able to walk away completely as the Swedish-Finnish company owns, directly and indirectly, 38% of Turkcell.

Other major Turkcell shareholders include Alfa Group and Cukurova Holding.

Many TeliaSonera shareholders had wanted the company to quit the region entirely after being accused of bribing senior officials in Uzbekistan for 3G licences nine years ago. The corruption investigation is ongoing.

In its statement, Turkcell also said it had submitted another offer for TeliaSonera’s directly owned 24% share in Kcell. If the two companies agree on the sale, Turkcell will own 75% in Kcell.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 270, published on March 4 2016)

Kazakhstan’s senate agrees new budget

MARCH 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s senate passed a new budget for 2016 that reported an increase in state spending, a plan designed to kick-start the economy. The government’s actual income from taxes will drop in 2016, it is forecasting, by around 8% but a lump of cash earmarked for various projects in 2017 will instead be injected into the system this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 270, published on March 4 2016)

Azerbaijan to sell electricity to Iran

FEB. 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan will start selling electricity to Iran by the end of March, media quoted its energy minister Shahin Mustafayev, as saying. The trade in electricity marks another step towards fully integrating Iran into the regional economy.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 270, published on March 4 2016)

Satybaldy invests in Kazakh IT and finance

FEB. 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kairat Satybaldy’s new investment company Alatau Capital Invest, Baring Vostok Capital and Kaspi Bank signed a deal to co-invest in projects in Kazakhstan’s IT and finance sectors. Mr Satybaldy, President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s nephew, was the secretary of the ruling party Nur Otan until November 2015, when he became a shareholder in Kaspi Bank. Baring Vostok Capital is also a shareholder in Kaspi Bank.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 270, published on March 4 2016)

Stock market: KAZ Minerals

MARCH 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — London-based miner KAZ Minerals has continued to rally after publishing its annual report at the end of February.

Since Feb. 1, its share price has gained 61% in the London Stock Exchange.

In the past week, equity researchers have increased their target price and their rating for KAZ Minerals, formerly known as Kazakhmys.

Copper prices have gone up in the past weeks and this has allowed the company to be more bullish in its forecast.

One sign of warning, however, comes from the strengthening tenge. The stability of the Kazakh currency at around 350/$1 over the past weeks confirms appears to suggest that it has founds an equilibrium.

This means that last year’s foreign currency gains for KAZ Minerals were a one-off boon and the company will have to rely solely on increased production if it wants to keep its growth rate.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 270, published on March 4 2016)